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AN 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS, 


DELIVERED    AT    TDK 


OPEMINO 


OF    THE 


ANNUAL    COURSE    OF   LECTURES 


COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SUltGEONS, 


IX  THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YOU 


OCTOBER     19th,     1357. 


SAMUEL   ST.    JOHN,    M.    D. 

Professor  of  Chemistry. 


NEW  YORK  : 

WYNKOOP,     HALLENBECK     &    THOMAS,     PRINTERS, 

No.  113  Fulton  Street. 

18  5  8. 


M- 


Y~ 


74T 


At  a  meeting  of  the  Class  of  1857  and  1858,  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  held  October  21st,  on  motion  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Hinman,  Mr.  C.  P.  Russel 
was  appointed  Chairman  and  Mr.  R.  F.  "Weir  Secretary  of  the  meeting.  The  fol 
lowing  resolutions  were  then  adopted : 

1st.  To  appoint  a  Committee  to  confer  with  Professor  Samuel  St.  John,  and  to 
solicit  for  publication  the  manuscript  of  his  Introductory  Address,  delivered  Octo- 
ber 19th. 

2d.  That  Messrs.  E.  P.  Whitney,  C.  Phelps  and  J.  H.  Thompson  be  that  Com- 
mittee. 

Agreeably  to  the  above  resolutions,  the  following  correspondence  was  entered 
into: 

Prof.  Samuel  St.  John  : 

Sir: — As  representatives  of  the  Class  of  1857-8  of  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons,  we  have  been  delegated  to  request  from  you,  for  publication,  a  copy 
of  the  Introductory  Address  pronounced  before  us  on  the  evening  of  the  19th  inst. 
Should  the  request  be  honored  by  your  approval,  we  shall  take  great  pleasure  in 
communicating  the  result. 

CH.  PHELPS, 
EDWARD  P.  WHITNEY, 
J.   HARRY  THOMPSON. 
October  26th,  1857. 


Messrs.  Ch.  Phelps,  Edward  P.  Whitney,  J.  Harry  Thompson: 

Gentlemen: — I  accede  to  the  request  of  the  Class,  expressed  through  their  Com- 
mittee, for  the  publication  of  the  Address,  with  the  hope  that  it  may  serve  to 
illustrate,  in  some  humble  measure,  the  fitness  and  importance  of  mental  discipline 
in  the  student's  preparation  for  the  responsibilities  of  professional  life. 

SAMUEL  ST.  JOHN. 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  : 

On  an  occasion  like  the  present,  I  might  be  expected  to  com- 
mend to  your  favorable  regard  that  branch  of  Science  with  whose 
supervision  and  administration,  in  this  Institution,  I  am  honored. 

If  this  branch  of  Education  were  new,  or  if  the  general  senti- 
ment of  the  profession  and  of  mankind  had  riot  been  decidedly 
expressed  in  its  favor,  I  should  feel  it  incumbent  upon  me  to 
attempt  a  plea  in  its  defense.  But,  since  it  is  neither  novel  nor 
destitute  of  public  favor,  I  have  deemed  it  not  inappropriate  to 
ask  your  attention  to  the  general  philosophy  of  the  processes  of 
Education — a  topic  of  vital  interest  to  the  well-being  of  society, 
and  which  has  elicited  the  widest  discussion,  not  only  with  the 
view  of  improving  details,  but  of  placing  the  whole  system  upon 
a  rational  foundation,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and 
the  constitution  of  the  human  mind. 

I  propose,  briefly,  to  consider  the  peculiar  claims  which  Natural 
Science  has  to  be  considered  a  branch  of  liberal  Education,  and 
the  important  purposes  it  may  subserve  in  training  the  mind  for 
efficient  action. 

It  may  be  viewed:  I.  In  reference  to  the  immediate  discipline 
of  the  powers  of  the  mind.  II.  With  reference  to  certain  intel- 
lectual habits  which  the  study  is  fitted  to  form  and  strengthen ;  and, 
III.  In  its  manifold  relations  with  the  useful  arts  and  the  econo- 
my of  life. 

I.  The   physical  sciences   are   not   only  pleasing  subjects   of 


6  ADDRESS. 

contemplation  to  the  mind,  but  they  conduce  to  its  thorough 
discipline  and  fit  it  for  successful  action.  The  most  obvious 
thought,  suggested  by  reflection  upon  the  intellectual  relation 
which  man  sustains  to  the  material  universe,  is,  that  he  com- 
mences his  existence  entirely  destitute  of  knowledge,  but  endowed 
with  a  mental  appetite,  and  surrounded  by  objects  fitted  to  stimu- 
late and  gratify  inquiry.  The  object  of  Education  is,  to  render 
the  mind  an  efficient  instrument  for  the  discovery  and  application 
of  the  laws  to  which  the  Creator  has  subjected  the  universe. 
That  it  is  practicable  to  train  the  mind  to  greater  skill  in  the  dis- 
covery and  application  of  these  laws,  appears  from  the  fact  that 
the  human  mind  is  so  constituted  that  certain  processes  of  thought 
are  better  adapted  to  the  discovery  of  truth  than  others,  and  that 
the  reasoning  powers  are  rendered  more  efficient  by  exercise.  Just 
in  proportion  as  the  student  acquires  skill  in  the  use  of  his  reason, 
is  his  progress  in  knowledge.  It  is  not  merely  the  knowledge 
which  physical  science  conveys,  and  the  value  and  extent  of  its 
applications,  but  from  the  nature  of  its  methods  and  reasonings, 
from  the  power  and  energy  of  the  agents  employed,  and  from  the 
striking  character  of  the  phenomena,  all  eminently  calculated  to 
awaken  curiosity  and  fix  the  attention,  the  mind  of  the  student, 
instead  of  being  forced  to  a  compulsory  exercise,  is  led,  by  the 
interest  it  feels  in  the  subject,  to  exert  itself  in  a  way  eminently 
calculated  to  invigorate  its  powers  of  attention,  observation  and 
reasoning.  Every  one,  who  is  at  all  practically  acquainted  with 
the  business  of  education,  is  well  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  fixing 
the  attention  of  the  student.  The  vivacity  of  the  youthful  mind, 
arising  from  the  acuteness  of  its  sensations,  continually  attracts  it 
to  external  objects.  Now,  in  the  study  of  natural  science,  the 
senses  are  made  purveyors  to  the  mind,  and  facts  and  principles, 
deduced,  as  it  were,  by  its  own  observation,  give  the  greatest  accu- 
racy and  precision  to  the  ideas  thus  acquired.  Natural  history 
has  been  termed  a  science  of  observation,  and  such,  in  a  restricted 


ADDRESS.  7 

sense,  it  undoubtedly  is — as  a  definition,  however,  it  is  partial  and 
insufficient.  Should  the  naturalist  confine  his  attention  to  the 
external  forms  of  objects,  to  the  compilation  of  a  dictionary  of 
their  names,  together  with  the  uses  to  which  they  might  be  ap- 
plied, he  would  manifestly  overlook  the  essential  philosophy,  the 
splendid  truths  which  give  dignity  to  the  science.  All  branches 
of  science,  however  varied  may  be  their  materials,  or  diversified 
their  nature,  have  but  one  object  in  view — the  discovery  of  the 
primary  laws  of  nature.  By  a  series  of  legitimate  deductions 
and  generalizations,  the  science,  which,  in  the  early  state  of  devel- 
opment, was  one  of  observation,  becomes  one  of  demonstration, 
and  as  such  claims  kindred  influence  with  the  mathematics  in  de- 
veloping and  disciplining  the  reasoning  powers.  The  remarks  of 
Baron  Cuvier,  on  the  influence  of  this  class  of  study  in  forming 
habits  of  mental  discipline,  are  striking  and  pertinent.  "The 
habit  naturally  acquired,"  says  that  great  man,  "in  the  study  of 
natural  history,  in  the  mental  classification  of  a  great  number  of 
ideas,  is  one  of  the  advantages  of  the  science  that  has  seldom 
been  observed,  and  which,  when  it  shall  have  been  generally  in- 
troduced into  the  system  of  education,  cannot  fail  to  be  appre- 
ciated. By  it  the  student  is  exercised  in  that  part  of  logic  which 
is  termed  method,  just  as  he  is  by  geometry  in  that  of  syllogism. 
ISTow,  this  art  of  method,  once  well  acquired,  may  be  applied  with 
infinite  advantage  to  studies  the  most  foreign  to  natural  history. 
Every  discussion  which  supposes  a  classification  of  facts,  every 
research  which  demands  a  distribution  of  topics,  is  performed  ac- 
cording to  the  same  laws."  A  notable  instance,  in  which  the 
fitness  of  these  studies  for  awakening  the  dormant  faculties  and 
developing  a  disciplined  and  well  furnished  mind,  has  within  a 
few  years  engaged  public  attention,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  J.  P.  Nor- 
ton, late  Professor  of  Agricultural  Chemistry  in  Yale  College. 
"  We  were  much  interested,"  says  a  writer  of  a  biographical 
sketch  in  the  New  Englander,   "in  the  account  of  his  first  scien- 


8  ADDRESS. 

tific  study,  which  we  received  from  Theodore  D wight,  Esq.,  who 
had  the  direction  of  his  studies  the  first  winter  he  was  sent  from 
home.  Mr.  Dwight  says,  'In  my  first  interview  with  him,  I  found 
he  had  a  decided  aversion  to  every  branch  of  study,  especially 
Latin  and  Greek.  I  sought  for  some  pursuit  in  which  he.  might 
feel  some  interest,  but  went  through  the  whole  range  of  sciences 
and  literature  without  success,  when  at  last  I  mentioned  min- 
eralogy. There  I  found  him  alive  and  willing  to  answer  ques- 
tions, and  I  soon  learned  that  for  two  years  or  more  he  had  appro- 
priated his  money  to  the  purchase  of  minerals,  and  had  a  large 
collection.  I  inquired  anxiously  how  he  had  arranged  them,  and 
he  replied  that  he  had  made  three  attempts  to  arrange  them  ac- 
cording to  their  colors  and  names,  and  found  that  they  could  not 
be  classified  at  all.  I  assured  him  of  the  contrary,  and  told  him 
that  the  proper  principle  was  that  of  their  composition.  He  im- 
mediately inquired  how  any  one  could  know  what  stones  were 
made  of.  I  explained,  in  a  simple  manner,  analysis  and  synthesis, 
and  promised  him  that  he  should  begin  the  next  day  to  decom- 
pose minerals,  and  (what  pleased  him  more,  although  he  did  not 
half  believe  it  possible)  compound  and  form  some  for  himself. 
Henceforth  there  wras  no  want  of  interest  in  his  studies,  and  from 
the  hour  of  this  conversation  he  became  one  of  the  most  hard- 
working scholars  of  his  time.'  Professor  Andrews  adds,  (Ohio 
Journal  of  Education,  vol.  II.,  p.  12) :  '  His  previous  studies  of 
grammar  and  arithmetic,  Latin  and  Greek,  had  all  been  to  no 
purpose,  because  the  vibrating  chord  of  his  intellect  had  not 
been  touched.  This  once  touched,  and  there  were  sympathetic 
vibrations  through  his  whole  soul.  From  his  mineralogy  he 
passed  on  from  one  science  to  another,  and  from  the  acquisition 
of  one  language  to  another,  until  his  attainments  were  most  en- 
viable, and  at  the  early  age  of  twenty -four  he  was  chosen  Pro- 
fessor of  Agricultural  Chemistry  in  Yale  College.  Although  his 
career  was  very  brief,  he  was  doubtless  the  ablest  teacher  in  that 


ADDRESS.  9 

department  in  our  country,  and  made  his  influence  felt  through- 
out the  land,  by  awakening  an  unceasing  interest  in  scientific 
agriculture.'  "  It  should  ever  be  remembered,  that  the  senses  are 
the  immediate  purveyors  of  the  mental  powers.  As  the  Creator 
has  formed  the  universe  partly  for  the  education  of  the  human 
soul,  He  has  completed  his  plan  by  giving  to  the  soul  the  senses, 
to  act  as  its  instruments  in  receiving  education.  Accordingly,  the 
various  sciences  which  are  used  for  developing  the  intellectual 
powers  are  based  upon  the  intercourse  which  the  mind,  through 
the  senses,  holds  with  the  material  universe.  Now,  the  only  way 
in  which  these  sciences  can  be  well  understood,  is  by  mingling, 
with  the  study  of  books,  a  sufficient  leaven  of  original  observation 
and  experience  to  imbue  the  whole  with  life.  The  studies  of  our 
school-boy  days  are  to  a  great  extent  abstractions,  employing  in 
a  slight  degree  the  evidences  of  the  senses,  while  the  natural 
sciences,  by  training  the  mind  to  habits  of  watchfulness  and  atten- 
tion, tend  to  impart  that  power  of  discrimination  which  consti- 
tutes, in  no  small  degree,  mental  superiority.  We  know  that  ac- 
curacy and  activity  in  business,  that  skill  in  every  art,  that  the 
correctness  and  life  of  most  literary  and  scientific  description  and 
illustration,  depend  upon  the  training  of  the  senses ;  and  that 
throughout  the  student's  whole  life,  whether  it  be  when,  as  a 
lively  child,  he  is  attentive  only  to  feeling  and  the  works  of  na- 
ture, or  when  he  has  become  an  adult,  and  mingles  reflection  with 
observation,  or  when  the  man  has  lost  the  acuteness  and  strength 
of  his  bodily  organs  in  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  lives  only  in 
memory  and  meditation,  the  character  and  condition  of  his  mind 
are  most  decisively  influenced  by  the  intercourse  he  has  held, 
through  the  medium  of  his  senses,  with  external  nature.  Do  we, 
then,  exaggerate  the  importance  of  those  sciences,  as  branches  of 
education,  which  strengthen  and  sharpen  the  senses,  and  thus  give 
vigor  and  keenness  to  the  mind,  enlarging  the  sphere  of  its  use- 
fulness and  enjoyment? 


10  ADDRESS. 

II.  I  proceed  to  consider  the  relation  of  this  study  to  certain 
intellectual  habits,  which  it  is  fitted  to  form  and  strengthen,  with- 
out which  little  can  be  expected  from  the  richest  native  gifts  of 
mind.  There  is  a  philosophic  spirit  or  habitude  of  mind  which 
is  far  more  valuable  than  any  limited  acquirements  of  knowledge. 
The  acquirements  will  fade  from  the  memory,  unless  their  impres- 
sion be  frequently  renewed,  but  the  disposition  or  character  of 
mind  to  which  they  give  birth  will  be  enduring.  As  in  chemis- 
try two  substances  combine  and  produce  a  new  body,  different 
from  each  of  the  constituents,  so  our  aptitude  for  the  attainment, 
appreciation  and  enjoyment  of  knowledge  combines  with  the 
human  soul,  constituting  a  portion  of  its  spiritual  power,  and  is 
as  imperishable  as  the  mind  itself. 

1.  This  study  tends  to  establish  the  habit  of  patient  thought, 
of  fixing  the  attention  upon  any  subject  of  investigation,  and  of 
retaining  it  in  mind  till  all  its  various  bearings  and  relations  have 
been  fully  examined — of  holding  it  in  the  focal  point  of  illumina- 
tion till  it  glows  and  burns.  This  constitutes  the  genius  of  inves- 
tigation and  reasoning  on  all  subjects.  'Not  is  there,  probably, 
any  habit  of  mind  more  prolific  in  discovery  and  invention — 
more  truly  characteristic  of  a  great  and  powerful  mind. 

2.  A  second  habit  of  mind,  necessarily  induced  by  this  study, 
and  allied  to  the  former,  is  that  of  accurate  and  persevering  ob- 
servation ;  a  quick,  discernment,  accustomed  by  practice  to  distin- 
guish differences  which  an  ordinary  observer  would  overlook. 
The  importance  of  this  habit  and  of  its  early  formation  is  apparent, 
from  the  fact  that  the  want  of  it  proves  fatal  to  all  high  attain- 
ments. As  no  pursuit  requires  more  observation  or  greater  nicety 
of  discrimination  than  that  of  Natural  Science,  it  is  pre-eminently 
fitted  to  qualify  the  mind  for  the  application  of  the  acuteness  and 
judgment,  thus  acquired,  to  the  pursuits  of  subsequent  life,  which 
may  call  for  the  exercise  of  sound  reason  and  just  discrimination. 
The  student,  who  has  been  taught  to  receive  as  true  only  what  is 


ADDRESS.  11 

the  result  of  observation  or  experiment,  will  be  in  little  danger  of 
being  led  away  by  the  insidious  arts  of  sophistry,  or  of  having 
his  mind  bewildered  by  fanaticism  or  superstition.  The  knowl- 
edge of  facts  is  what  he  is  taught  to  esteem  ;  and  no  reasoning, 
however  specious,  will  induce  him  to  receive  as  true  what  appears 
incongruous,  or  can  not  be  enforced  by  demonstration. 

3.  Another  habit  of  mind,  naturally  consequent  upon  this  pur- 
suit, is  that  of  enthusiasm,  the  foundation  of  an  ardent,  inquiring 
mind.     There  is  an  inexpressible  satisfaction,  an  intellectual  de- 
light, in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  which  few  but  the  philosopher  can 
understand.     This  luxury  of  the  soul,  as  it  has  been  well  termed, 
belongs  especially  to  the  pursuit  of  Natural  Science.     He  who 
studies  the  forms  of  Nature  has  before  him  models  of  perfection. 
He  has  not  to  consult  popular  taste  or  arbitrary  opinion  as  to  the 
value  or  importance  of  his  pursuits.      He  has  before  him  truth  : 
his  sole  business  is  to  analyze  and  classify  all  the  parts  and  rela- 
tions of  that  truth.     If,  indeed,  all  truth  be  not  attained,  yet,  with 
superior  minds,  the  very  difficulty  of  attainment  serves  but  to  in- 
crease the  ardor  of  its  pursuit.    Whoever  enters  upon  this  study 
with  proper  views,  and  pursues  it  with  intelligence  and  success, 
rarely  looks  back,  but  is  continually  urged  on  by  the  discovery  of 
new  and  wonderful  truths  which  fill  his  mind  with  ennobling: 
emotions.    Nature  has  her  history  written  on  her  very  lineaments ; 
a  history  so  interesting  that  the  most  splendid  fictions  of  human 
imagination  sink  into  insignificance  when  compared  with  it,  as 
human  productions  must  when  compared  with  the  works  of  the 
Creator.     The  study  of  Nature  leads  its  real  votaries,  by  the  plea- 
sure derived  from  the  observation  of  her  ordinary  phenomena,  to 
the  deeper  delight  afforded  by  the  contemplation  of  the  unity  of 
design  and  the  harmony  of  all  her  relations.      Then  it  is  that  new 
susceptibilities  to  some  of  the  purest  and  most  exquisite  mental 
pleasures  awaken  in  the  breast,  and  we  become  conscious  of  senti- 
ments and  powers  before  dormant  and  unknown.     A  wide  survey 


12  ADDRESS. 

of  the  operations  of  Nature,  in  their  sublimities  and  beauties,  fur 
nishes  such  a  conception  of  the  wisdom  displayed  in  their  origin 
and  maintenance  as  compels  our  admiration.  The  demonstra- 
tions of  power,  evinced  by  the  desolating  tornado  and  terrific 
earthquake,  strike  us  with  awe,  but  are  scarcely  more  convincing 
than  the  skill  and  wisdom  manifested  in  the  silent  combination  of 
the  gases,  in  the  exquisitely  graceful  figures  of  crystals,  and  the 
perfection  of  organization  discernible  in  some  of  the  minutest 
forms  of  vegetable  and  animal  life.  Chemistry  teaches  us  that 
the  oxygen  which  kindles  ordinary  combustion  is  the  same 
principle  which  purifies  our  blood,  evolving  animal  heat,  and 
sustaining  the  steady  flame  of  life ;  while  the  same  particles  of 
carbon  are  found  successively  in  the  mineral,  vegetable  and  animal 
kingdoms,  coursing  a  ceaseless  round,  illustrative  of  Nature's 
method  of  maintaining  stability  by  incessant  change.  If  we 
minutely  examine  a  drop  of  water  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope, 
we  find  it  crowded  with  myriads  of  animalcules,  deriving  suste- 
nance and  finding  ample  scope  amid  its  uncounted  particles ; 
and  if  we  proceed  to  analyze  it  by  superior  attraction,  we  find 
that  in  the  mild  bosom  of  its  compound  state  there  are  locked  up 
two  of  the  most  energetic  elements  known — oxygen,  the  supporter 
of  combustion,  and  hydrogen,  the  most  combustible  of  all  sub- 
stances. To  the  eye  of  cultivated  intellect,  every  part  of  creation, 
beams  with  rays  of  light,  and  glory,  and  beauty.  The  enthusi- 
astic zeal  of  every  true  student  of  science  testifies  that  his  pursuits 
are  of  the  highest  interest,  and  is  a  sure  promise  to  the  beginner, 
who  sees  but  dimly  into  the  system  of  Nature,  that  knowledge 
will,  in  itself,  be  a  sufficient  reward.  For  the  highest  success  in 
the  pursuit  of  any  object,  there  must  be  a  sincere  love  of  the  object 
itself.  The  student,  the  thinker,  the  author,  who  is  true  to  his 
vocation,  loves  the  truth  which  he  seeks  to  develop,  embody  and 
enunciate.  He  labors  not  for  mere  subsistence  nor  for  fame  pri- 
marily.    These  may,  indeed,  result  from  his  labors,  and  he  may 


ADDRESS.  13 

welcome  them,  but  truth  is  higher  and  dearer  in  his  estimation 
than  the j.  Newton,  sitting  half  a  day  on  his  bedside,  with  his 
fast  unbroken,  rapt  in  a  problem  of  fluxions ;  Bacon,  taking  his 
death-chill  in  an  experiment  to  test  the  preserving  qualities  of 
snow ;  Linnaeus,  studying  the  Flora  of  the  Arctic  Circle  in  place ; 
Cuvier,  a  lordlier  Adam  than  he  of  Eden,  naming  the  whole  ani- 
mal kingdom  in  his  museum,  and  reading  the  very  thought  of 
the  Creator  after  him,  in  their  wondrous  mechanism  ;  Pelletier, 
laying  down  his  life  in  an  attempt  to  demonstrate  the  fitness  of 
Chlorine  for  respiration ;  Franklin  and  Davy,  wresting  the  secrets 
of  Nature  from  their  inmost  hiding-places ;  these,  and  hundreds 
of  others  similar,  attest  the  power  of  these  studies  to  elicit  enthu 
siasm,  and  engage  the  hand  and  heart  in  the  service  of  Truth — 
he  Truth  as  she  appears  in  the  works  of  God,  as  seen  in  her  sub- 
limities or  her  beauties,  in  her  world-poising  might,  as  she  moves 
among  the  spheres,  in  the  mysterious  laws  that  combine  a  uni- 
verse, and  spell  it  to  harmony  ;  or  in  her  seeming  trivialities,  as 
she  condenses  the  damps  of  the  summer  evening  in  glittering 
dew-drops,  or  paints  with  tints  of  lustrous  beauty  the  tiny  insect 
that  floats  in  the  sunbeam.  Truth  is,  indeed,  the  one  legitimate 
object  of  all  intellectual  effort;  to  discover  and  apprehend,  to 
establish,  present  and  commend  it,  are  the  processes  and  end  of 
study.  To  discern  the  things  that  really  are,  to  distinguish  reality 
from  appearance  and  illusion,  is  the  business  of  educated  mind. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  insteresting  facts  in  the  history  of  science, 
that  almost  every  great  and  central  truth  which  we  now  possess 
has  been  secured  by  the  enthusiasm  of  some  gifted  man,  upon 
whom  its  discovery  has  conferred  immortality.  To  discover  it, 
years  have  been  consumed  in  the  study  and  laboratory,  until  the 
siugle  truth  shone  forth  with  established  lustre.  Galileo  spent  his 
life  in  vindicating  the  Copernican  system,  and  perfecting  the  tel- 
escope ;  Harvey,  in  defending  the  circulation  of  the  blood ;  Jen- 
ner,  in  the  defense  of  the  theory  of  vaccination;  Lavoisier,  in 


14  ADDRESS. 

establishing  the  correct  view  of  combustion.  A  burning  love  of 
the  truth,  for  the  truth's  own  sake,  inspired  them,  and  such  an 
enthusiasm  it  is  one  of  the  benign  effects  of  the  pursuit  of  science 
to  awaken  in  noble  minds. 

111.  The  third  branch  of  the  topic  named  was,  the  numerous 
and  varied  relations  which  this  study  bears  to  the  economic  arts 
and  the  welfare  of  mankind. 

It  has  been  said,  with  classic  beauty  and  truth,  that  every  vista 
in  the  ample  domain  of  science  should  lead  to  a  temple  dedicated 
to  the  benefit  of  man. 

Devotion  to  works  of  practical  utility  seems  to  have  been  a 
striking  feature  of  the  Saxon  race  ever  since  their  character  was 
distinctly  developed  by  the  progress  of  civilization.  The  Ger- 
mans have  been  chiefly  remarkable  for  patient  study,  profound 
research,  abstruse  speculation,  and  critical  analysis,  in  all  subjects 
which  can  afford  material,  slight  or  solid,  for  intellect  to  work 
upon ;  the  French  have  addicted  themselves  very  much  to  the 
pursuit  of  the  agreeable,  the  beautiful,  the  exhilarating  in  man- 
ners, literature  and  life;  while  the  English  have  been  distinguished 
rather  for  sober  and  laborious  attention  to  whatever  is  substan- 
tially useful  to  man,  as  a  physical,  intellectual  and  social  being. 
They  have  not,  indeed,  neglected  the  elegances  of  literature,  nor 
the  pursuit  of  pure  science ;  but  they  have  left  upon  them  the 
strong  impress  of  a  passion  for  utility.  And  for  the  Anglo-Saxons 
in  America  we  may,  perhaps,  without  vanity,  challenge  the  honor 
of  having  improved  somewhat  on  the  parent  English  utilitarian 
stock,  the  very  circumstances  of  our  origin  and  history  as  a 
people  having  tended  strongly  to  develop  this  characteristic. 

The  difference,  between  man  in  a  state  of  nature  and  in  a  state 
of  advanced  science,  is  almost  as  great  as  that  between  distinct 
orders  of  beings.  With  the  former,  the  visible  world  is  filled 
with  prodigies,  and  the  invisible  with  imaginary  beings.  Objects 
and  events,  which,  familiar  to  us  from  our  childhood,  create  no 


ADDRESS.  15 

apprehension,  fill  his  mind  with  dread  and  amazement.  Every 
event  becomes  a  mystery  to  him  whose  canse  he  knows  not,  and 
whose  tendency  he  has  no  means  of  anticipating.  Diseases  attack 
him,  from  causes  which  he  does  not  understand,  and  carry  their 
fearful  desolations  through  his  frame  in  a  manner  which  he  can 
neither  trace  nor  control.  The  thunder  rolls  and  the  lightning 
rives  the  sturdy  oak  by  an  invisible  influence  which  he  cannot 
explain.  An  earthquake  or  volcano  is  equally  an  object  of  dread, 
whose  origin  is  inscrutable.  To  his  view,  the  stars  of  night  shine 
with  unmeaning  splendor  or  merely  excite  inquiry  whether  they 
exert  an  occult  influence  over  the  fates  of  men.  But  when  science 
has  shed  its  light  upon  his  mind,  each  one  of  the  objects  which 
once  affrighted  him  takes  its  place  among  the  things  known  to  be 
adapted  to  promote  his  welfare,  and  to  furnish  him  security  and 
happiness.  Nature,  no  longer  full  of  gloom  and  terror,  has  turned 
her  fiends  to  friends.  The  restless  spirits  of  superstition  are  dis- 
cerned to  be  the  vapors  of  a  mind  oppressed  by  its  own  imagin- 
ings. Eelieved  of  this  incubus,  man  begins  to  examine  the 
changes  in  the  world  around  him — which  he  attributes  to  some 
secret  and  malign  influence  of  invisible  beings — traces  them  to 
their  true  causes,  and  makes  them  tributary  to  his  comfort  and 
intellectual  advancement.  The  once  much  dreaded  eclipse  is  now 
accurately  predicted,  and  intently  watched  to  determine  great 
problems  of  astronomy  and  navigation.  The  elements  he  subjects 
to  his  control ;  and  on  every  hand  innumerable  agents  rise  up, 
with  greater  precision  and  power  than  those  of  living  beings,  to 
aid  him  in  the  accomplishment  of  his  purposes.  Disease  and 
danger  he  learns,  by  the  aid  of  science,  to  evade  or  control,  while 
he  scrutinizes  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  the  mineral,  vegetable, 
and  animal  kingdoms,  to  make  all  tributary  to  the  expansion  of 
his  mental  powers,  and  to  the  advancement  of  his  social  welfare. 
This  difference,  between  man  in  a  state  of  barbarism  and  man 
aided  by  the  powers  which  modern  science  has  placed  at  his  dis 


16  ADDRESS. 

posal,  we  are  prone  to  forget,  for  at  our  birth  we  have  been. intro- 
duced into  all  the  benefits  which  have  resulted  from  the  scientific 
discoveries  of  past  times.  We  have  not  been  witnesses  of  the 
slow  growth  of  science,  of  the  struggles  and  conflicts  which  each 
of  its  principles  has  encountered,  before  it  has  been  enabled  to 
acquire  the  ascendancy,  and  exert  its  appropriate  influence  on 
the  welfare  of  society. 

The  contrast  presented  by  ancient  and  modern  philosophy,  in 
their  direct  influence  upon  the  physical  welfare  of  mankind,  is 
most  striking;  and  to  the  modern  views  of  the  object  of  science, 
as  well  as  the  modes  of  pursuing  it,  we  owe  nearly  all  its  rapid 
advancement.  The  differences  of  physical  and  medical  science  in 
ancient  times  and  at  the  present  day  are  traceable  almost  exclu- 
sively to  this.  Until  the  time  of  Lord  Bacon,  the  true  object  of 
science  seems  not  to  have  been  recognized,  and  the  fundamental 
tenet  of  his  inductive  philosophy  was  hailed  as  an  innovation 
upon  the  lethargic  systems  of  ancient  philosojDhy.  While  the 
ancient  philosophers  busied  themselves  with  discussions  respect- 
ing profound,  mystic,  ideal  schemes,  and  endless  abstract  theories 
of  perfection,  disdaining  all  contemplation  of  processes  of  nature 
or  art  which  might  be  made  to  minister  to  the  physical  benefit 
and  comfort  of  mankind,  Bacon  affirmed  the  true  object  of 
science  to  be,  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  man,  the  mitiga- 
tion of  the  annoyances  of  human  life,  and  the  accumulation  of 
scientific  discoveries  and  achievements  for  enriching  the  human 
race.  Utility,  which  was  ignored  or  scorned,  as  degrading  ancient 
philosophy,  became  the  dominant  purpose  of  modern  science,  and 
has  ever  since  proved  the  mainspring  of  its  progress.  Nor  can 
we  attribute  its  rapid  advancement  to  the  superior  endowments  of 
its  cultivators.  The  ancient  philosophers  have  left  abundant 
proofs  of  intellectual  powers  adequate  to  the  successful  investiga- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature — admirable  specimens  of  logical  and 
rhetorical  skill — but,  amid  all  the  treasures  of  classic  lore,  we  seek 


ADDBESS.  17 

in  vain  for  any  rational  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  nature, 
with  a  view  to  the  physical  welfare  of  mankind.  In  the  healing 
art,  what  was  more  obvious  than  the  study  of  the  human  frame 
by  dissection,  educing  the  laws  of  its  normal  structure,  constituting 
the  sciences  of  anatomy  and  physiology  ?  Yet,  so  far  as  we  can 
learn,  dissection  was  not  practiced  by  the  ancients.  What  system 
of  investigation  was  more  promising  than  that  which  accumulates 
and  collates  facts  respecting  diseases,  arranges  them  by  patient 
induction,  discovers  their  laws  and  furnishes  the  basis  for  attempts 
to  restore  to  a  state  of  health  ?  Instead  of  this,  ancient  medicine 
consisted  in  attempts  to  ward  off  disease,  and,  failing  in  this,  its 
efforts  to  cure  the  sick  were  rare  and  impotent.  Another  differ- 
ence between  ancient  and  modern  science  is  conspicuous  in  their 
relations  to  the  mass  of  the  people.  The  former  was  confined 
to  certain  privileged  classes,  constituting  a  philosophical  caste, 
wholly  isolated  from  the  interests  and  sympathies  of  the  commu- 
nity, and  the  knowledge  of  scientific  truths  was  perpetually  liable 
to  perish  with  their  discoverers.  But  the  scientific  discoverers  of 
the  present  day  find  ready  access  to  the  public  mind ;  incorpora- 
ting themselves  in  its  thoughts  and  feelings,  and  modifying  its 
acts,  they  can  never  be  obliterated.  It  is  related  of  Phidias,  the 
famous  Grecian  sculptor,  that  in  carving  the  statue  of  Minerva, 
the  tutelar  divinity  of  Athens,  he  so  engraved  his  own  image 
upon  her  shield  that  it  could  never  be  effaced  without  destroying 
the  shield  and  essentially  marring  the  statue.  In  like  manner 
the  principles  of  modern  science  are  deeply  graven  upon  the  fea- 
tures of  society,  and  so  pervade  its  texture  that  they  can  never 
be  removed  without  its  destruction.  How  can  the  knowledge  of 
Sir  Humphry  Davy's  safety-lamp  ever  perish  ?  Not  only  does  it 
daily  guide  ten  thousand  miners  in  safety  amid  the  explosive  fire- 
damps of  the  mines,  but,  as  a  guardian  angel,  warns  them  of  their 
approach  to  danger.     How  can  the  knowledge  of  the  mariner's 

compass  be  blotted  from  the  memory  of  man  ?     Every  hour  it 
2 


18  ADDRESS. 

guides  the  vessels  of  all  nations  with  unerring  certainty.  When 
can  the  knowledge  of  the  use  of  steam  be  forgotten?  Every 
ocean,  lake,  and  river,  every  art  and  nation  acknowledge  its  power, 
and  the  plans  of  all  civilized  nations,  whether  for  war  or  peace, 
for  commerce  or  manufactures,  for  ambition  or  pleasure,  involve 
its  use.  When  shall  the  knowledge  of  that  property  of  electricity 
become  obsolete,  which  as  the  swift  messenger,  in  the  electro-mag- 
netic telegraph,  proclaims  its  utility  by  annihilating  space  and 
time? 

The  science  of  chemistry  affords  as  striking  illustrations  as  any 
which  can  be  adduced  of  the  value  of  a  proper  aim  and  correct 
method  of  investigation.  It  was  formerly  an  occult  art,  full  of 
mysterious  and  anomalous  processes,  based  upon  absurd  theories, 
and  seeking  to  accomplish  contradictory  results.  Instead  of  a 
tissue  of  absurdities,  incapable  of  reduction  to  any  rational  prin- 
ciples, it  is  now,  in  the  highest  sense,  a  science.  Its  laws  have 
been  examined  and  ascertained  with  great  accuracy,  and  are  sus- 
ceptible of  demonstration  with  as  much  clearness  and  facility  as 
the  laws  of  mechanical  philosophy.  So  eminently  practical  has 
it  become,  that  its  beneficial  effects  are  realized  in  almost  every 
department  of  life.  By  its  aid,  medicinal  compounds  have  been 
purified  and  concentrated,  until  no  excuse  remains  for  the  incom- 
patible nostrums  with  which  the  apothecary's  art  formerly  abound- 
ed. By  analysis  it  reveals  the  dangerous  nature  of  the  choke- 
damp  of  wells,  mines  and  illy -ventilated  apartments,  while  its 
safety -lamps  have  arrested  the  fearful  waste  of  human  life,  for- 
merly involved  in  the  extraction  of  coal.  It  lights  up  our  dwell- 
ings with  brilliant  gas,  reduces  the  ores  of  valuable  metals, 
bleaches  or  imparts  the  never-fading  tint,  and,  with  the  aid  of  the 
subtle  sunbeam,  perpetuates  the  most  fleeting  forms.  It  discloses 
the  nature  of  air,  earth,  fire  and  water — of  the  products  of  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  life.  It  has  not,  indeed,  yet  discovered  that  ignis 
fatuus  of  the  alchemists,  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  was  to 


ADDRESS.  19 

transmute  all  substances  into  gold,  but  it  has  accomplished  for  us 
far  more  valuable  results,  in  improving  art,  in  the  departments  of 
medicine,  agriculture  and  manufactures,  and  in  disciplining  our 
mental  powers,  by  the  study  of  its  phenomena  and  laws.  The 
secret  science  (as  it  was  called)  has  escaped  from  the  mysterious 
closets  of  the  monks,  and  become  an  habitual  accompaniment  of 
every  department  of  life,  revealing  its  presence  in  the  atmosphere 
we  breathe,  and  in  all  the  •  processes  of  domestic  economy.  Less 
than  a  century  ago,  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere  and  ocean 
were  unknown  to  philosophy ;  the  identity  of  electricity  with 
lightning  was  scarcely  established ;  the  wonders  of  galvanism  and 
electro-magnetism  were  not  conceived,  and  that  the  same  agent  is 
the  basis  of  chemical  action  was  not  conjectured.  It  is  unneces- 
sary to  trace  in  detail  the  causes  which  led  to  these  changes  in  the 
object  and  pursuit  of  the  science.  The  principle  of  that  philoso- 
phy, which  aspires  to  render  science  useful  to  man,  runs  through 
them  all,  and  no  sooner  had  chemistry  renounced  the  vain  and 
chimerical  dreams  of  alchemy,  than,  fearless  of  the  public  gaze, 
she  abandoned  her  hiding-places  and  stood  forth  in  the  broad 
light  of  science. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Medical  Class  : 

In  performing  the  pleasing  duty  assigned  me,  of  welcoming  you 
to  this  Institution  at  the  commencement  of  its  annual  course  of 
instruction,  it  seemed  to  me  that  no  more  appropriate  theme  for 
reflection  could  be  suggested,  than  that  which  would  fix  your 
attention  on  the  course  of  training  to  which  you  purpose  to  sub- 
ject yourselves,  and  which  is  to  be  the  great  work  of  your  lives. 
You  resort  to  this  Institution  for  what  purpose?  To  prepare 
yourselves,  you  will,  perhaps,  reply,  to  become  physicians.  But 
has  it  occurred  to  you  to  inquire  into  the  fitness  or  design  of  your 
exercises  here?     Have  you  become  personally  convinced  that  the 


20  ADDRESS. 

great  principles  of  medical  education  are  the  true  ones? — that 
they  are  true  because  they  are  founded  in  the  intellectual  nature 
of  man  ?  Do  you,  in  your  daily  mental  exercises,  reflect  that  by 
these  processes  eminent  success  is  attained,  and  human  knowledge 
and  happiness  advanced.  The  design  of  these  exercises  is,  whether 
you  are  aware  of  it  or  not,  to  render  your  minds  fitter  instruments 
for  discovering  and  applying  the  laws  of  the  Creator.  This  de- 
sign is  accomplished  whenever  the  original  powers  of  the  mind 
are  thoroughly  cultivated  by  use.  But  the  improvement  of  the 
memory,  which  to  some  of  you,  perhaps,  seems  the  whole  object  of 
education,  does  not  of  necessity  strengthen  the  power  of  discrimi- 
nation or  induction.  The  law  on  this  subject  is  universal,  that 
every  separate  faculty  is  strengthened  and  rendered  more  perfect 
exactly  in  proportion  as  it  is  subjected  to  habitual  and  active  ex- 
ercise. The  sciences  which  you  here  pursue  are  of  peculiar 
utility  in  this  point  of  view,  from  the  very  manner  in  which 
they  must  be  investigated.  They  can  be  pursued  with  success 
only  by  patient  examination  of  facts  ;  their  object  is  unalterable 
truth,  to  be  derived  from  oft-repeated  observations,  and  accurate 
deductions,  imparting  to  the  mind  a  habit  of  observation,  most 
difficult  to  acquire,  but  of  inestimable  value.  Valuable  as  the 
information  may  be,  with  which  you  may  store  your  minds  whilst 
pursuing  your  studies,  it  is  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the 
invigoration  of  the  powers  of  your  understanding,  and  their  in- 
creased aptitude  for  application,  which  will  be  the  certain  results 
of  an  assiduous  and  enlightened  training  of  those  powers.  Your 
mental  habits  are  of  more  importance  than  your  acquisitions. 
The  importance  of  mental  discipline,  in  connection  with  profes- 
sional reputation  and  success,  has  been  too  little  regarded ;  and 
especially  in  this  advanced  period  of  the  history  of  professional 
science  is  it  a  great  error  in  any  young  man  to  suppose  that  he 
can  rise  above  mediocrity  without  a  thorough  cultivation  of  his 
intellectual  powers.     The  general  principles  of  the  profession — 


ADDRESS.  21 

results  as  they  are  of  the  study,  experience  and  wisdom  of  suc- 
cessive generations — are,  to  a  great  extent,  settled  upon  so  firm  a 
basis  that  they  are  in  very  little  clanger  of  being  overthrown,  by 
dreamy  speculations  or  visionary  theories.  Medical  philosophy  is 
a  science  in  the  strictest  sense  of  that  term — classified  facts ;  the 
result  of  the  most  rigid  induction  of  facts  gathered  by  the  most 
careful  experiment  and  accurate  observation.  Its  practice  involves 
processes  of  the  most  severe  logic.  Too  long,  for  the  interests 
of  humanity,  has  it  been  believed,  that,  while  thorough  intellect- 
ual culture  and  mental  discipline  were  indispensable  to  success  in 
other  professions,  the  issues  of  life  and  death  might  daily  hang 
upon  the  inconclusive  reasoning  of  an  untutored  mind,  which  has 
spent  a  few  months  in  undirected  medical  reading.  But,  it  may 
be  asked,  if  an  accurate  memory  and  diligent  reading  have  fur- 
nished that  mind  with  the  requisite  facts,  is  it  not  fitted  for  action  ? 
By  no  means.  Of  what  service  would  the  best  furnished  armory 
be  to  him  who  knows  not  how  to  use  a  single  piece  ?  A  mind 
filled  to  repletion  with  facts,  without  that  skill  in  the  use  of  them 
which  is  the  result  of  mental  discipline,  is  deplorably  imbecile  in 
all  its  efforts — an  elaborate  piece  of  machinery  with  no  moving- 
power.  Every  year  is  adding  to  the  amount  of  learning  connected 
with  the  profession.  It  is  idle  to  pretend  that  there  are  not,  at 
this  day,  valuable  sources  of  information,  to  the  examination  of 
which  the  most  industrious  life  is  hardly  equal,  and  without  an 
acquaintance  with  which  no  one  of  the  profession  ought  to  hope 
to  secure  the  confidence  and  command  the  respect  of  his  fellow- 
men.  A  knowledge  of  diseases  and  their  remedies,  or  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  writings  of  those  who  have  been  distinguished  in 
the  various  departments  of  the  profession,  never  has  been,  and 
never  will  be,  attained  by  intuition.  ISTor  can  it  be  the  work  of 
a  day  or  a  year — it  is  the  labor  of  a  life.  The  last  half  century 
has  produced  a  great  change  in  the  medical  profession.  It  has 
opened  new  sources  of  instruction  of  the  most  valuable  character, 


22  ADDRESS. 

and  elevated  Medical  Science  to  a  high  and  dignified  position. 
To  the  credit  of  the  age,  it  may  be  said  that  more  liberal  views  are 
entertained,  in  regard  to  medical  education  and  thorough  qualifi- 
cation for  professional  respectability  and  usefulness,  than  were 
formerly  cherished.  It  is  now  a  common  sentiment,  that  while 
great  pains  are  taken  to  secure  the  services  of  men  of  talents  and 
learning  in  the  pulpit,  and  those  of  the  most  skill  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession, it  is  unwise  to  entrust  life  and  health  to  the  guardianship 
of  ignorant  pretenders.  With  any  other  views  than  those  which 
embrace  the  increasing  responsibilities  of  stations  you  contemplate 
occupying,  you  will  degenerate  into  listless  students,  and  mere 
practitioners  of  habit  and  empiricism.  As  you  value  your  own 
success,  and  the  lives  and  happiness  of  those  who  may  be  commit- 
ted to  your  care,  permit  no  opportunity  to  escape  of  thoroughly 
disciplining  your  mental  powers  and  securing  all  the  knowledge 
that  is  attainable  by  energetic  and  diligent  study.  Be  assured 
that  the  pleasure  you  will  derive  from  the  daily  conviction  that 
vou  are  acting  on  the  sure  basis  of  conscious  strength  and  inform- 
ation, will  be  a  source  of  perpetual  enjoyment.  Neither  should 
vou  be  content  with  garnering  up  the  results  of  previous  labors  in 
the  cause  of  Science,  but  strive  to  bear  at  least  some  humble  part 
in  enlarging  that  intellectual  treasury  whose  magnificence  and 
wealth  are  freely  opened  to  you.  I  have  called  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  Science  of  the  present  generation  is  the  ac- 
cumulated fruit  of  the  patient  study  of  thousands  of  minds  all 
guided  to  one  end — the  improvement  of  the  human  race.  From 
the  period  when  the  alchemist  brooded  over  his  mystic  rites, 
in  indefatigable  but  vain  search  after  the  brilliant  phantoms  of 
his  dreams,  to  that  in  which  Davy  and  Dalton  have  demonstrat- 
ed not  merely  the  quality  but  the  definite  proportions  of  the 
elements  of  the  most  complex  substances,  the  long  interval 
has  been  filled  up,  and  the  wonderful  conclusions  of  science 
attained  by  the  incessant  mental  toil  of  numerous,  acute,  patient, 


ADDRESS.  23 

and  daring  intellects  through  days  of  thought  and  nights  of  watch- 
ing. Great  men,  during  a  long  train  of  ages,  have  accumulated 
and  transmitted  to  you  this  more  than  regal  heritage,  through  a 
line  far  more  illustrious  than  any  ancestry  ever  blazoned  by  her- 
aldry. Instead  of  inflating  your  vanity,  let  this  consideration 
incite  you  to  high  resolve  and  manly  action.  If  you  find  your- 
selves to  be  debtors  to  the  past  in  an  almost  incalculable  amount, 
will  you  not  feel  stimulated  to  the  desire  of  paying  some  part  of 
the  debt,  by  services  to  the  present  and  the  future  ?  Others  have 
lived  and  toiled  for  us — it  is  for  us  to  live  and  labor  for  others. 
Do  you  say  that  you  lack  genius  for  such  exploits?  Yet  these 
achievements  were  wrought  by  minds  like  your  own.  In  those 
periods  in  which  science  has  advanced  with  the  greatest  rapidity, 
the  same  discovery  has  been  made  independently  by  several  indi- 
viduals at  the  same  time.  This  teaches  us  that  the  laws  then 
discovered  pointed  out  the  next  step  in  discovery,  and  thus  that 
talent  common  to  many  was  able  to  accomplish  what  the  highest 
endowments  in  intellect  had  previously  found  to  be  impossible. 
Men  often  possess  a  greater  share  of  genius  than  they  are  willing 
to  give  themselves  credit  for.  Newton,  the  prince  of  philoso- 
phers, owed  his  success,  at  least,  in  his  own  estimation,  to  his  un- 
tiring perseverance,  rather  than  to  any  superiority  of  natural 
gifts.  Nor  should  the  want  of  time  be  objected,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  many  have  acquired  an  honorable  distinction  as 
men  of  scieuce,  with  whom  philosophy  has  been  only  the  recrea- 
tion of  their  leisure  hours.  The  pressing  cares  of  a  diplomatist, 
and  the  consciousness  that  a  nation's  destiny  was  hanging,  in  an 
important  sense,  upon  the  fidelity  with  which  he  served  its  inter- 
ests, could  not  prevent  Benjamin  Franklin  from  turning  aside 
often  to  converse  with  Nature.  That  well-earned  wreath  which 
he  will  ever  continue  to  wear  while  experimental  philosophy  has 
its  votaries,  or  respect  is  paid  to  science,  may  be  said  literally  to 
have  been  woven  of  those  remnants  and  shreds  of  time  which 


24  ADDBESS. 

by  many  are  given  to  listless  vacuity,  to  some  trivial  amusement, 
or  to  the  cravings  of  a  vitiated  appetite.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
those  splendid  attainments  in  astronomical  science  which  made 
our  countryman,  Dr.  Bowditch,  a  denizen  of  both  hemispheres, 
which  gave  American  science  a  name  and  place  in  European  esti- 
mation, and  which  caused  his  death  to  be  so  deeply  deplored 
throughout  the  scientific  world,  were  owing  to  his  untiring  indus- 
try and  rigid  economy  of  time.  Instances  of  a  similar  nature 
might  be  adduced  from  almost  every  walk  of  science. 

The  profession,  gentlemen,  to  which  you  aspire  is  worthy  of 
your  respect,  because  of  its  usefulness ;  of  your  love,  because  of 
its  intimate  alliance  with  the  virtues  which  follow  in  the  train  of 
benevolence :  of  your  veneration,  because  it  reckons  among  its 
ornaments  many  of  the  most  powerful  minds,  whose  existence  is 
graven  on  the  records  of  history,  and  because  of  the  vast  amount 
of  profound  truth  and  sublime  speculation  which  distinguish  it  as 
a  science,  and  signalize  its  achievements  as  an  art.  If,  with  such 
a  view  of  the  calling,  you  labor  with  assiduity  to  fit  yourselves 
for  its  responsibilities,  you  cannot  fail  of  your  reward.  Whether 
wealth  or  poverty  be  your  lot,  whether  you  pass  your  lives  sur- 
rounded by  a  throng  of  admirers,  or  in  the  solitude  of  neglect, 
whether  you  are  loaded  with  distinction,  or  live  obscurely  use- 
ful, you  will  enjoy  the  ineffable  satisfaction  of  the  assurance 
that  "the  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  has  come 
upon  you." 


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